A Wedding's Curse

"This looks absolutely delicious!" Misa exclaimed, her stomach on that cake as much as her eyes were. "Be honest, did you make the effort to bake this, or was this a last second creation attempting to woo me into forgiveness?"

"The second option, of course," Ryusei said, making Misa laugh once more.

It was easy to understand why Chie had fallen for Ryusei, in Misa's opinion. He was charming and friendlier, by far, than his brother--not that it mattered to Misa at this point. Prince Ran was the one for her. 

Ryusei seemed the type to be able to sweet talk a whole country, the charm of a prince embedded deep within him. It reminded her of her first impression of him two nights before, how he seemed to still command the excellence he once had as the heir of this vampire kingdom, even seventy years after his exile.

It was a real shame how fate had strung him up and left him out to dry.

"Mind if I try some now?" Misa asked.

"Be my guest," Ryusei said with a smile.

Misa snatched up the tiny spoon so fast she should have been embarrassed and rushed to dig in. She scooped a generous amount of the sweet-looking dessert and was about to devour it when she paused, looking at Ryusei. "Wait," she said, "I feel bad."

Ryusei looked confused. "What for?"

"You're just going to watch me eat it! I want us to try at least the first bite together. I'm sure I can finish the rest myself." She mumbled the last part quickly, trying not to muddle her own attempt at being polite with her animal-like greed.

Ryusei pretended to be overwhelmingly touched, tapping his fingers against his heart elegantly while squeezing in his bottom lip like he was trying not to cry. He then plucked a spoon out of the air like it had just been sitting there on an unseen shelf. "I was hoping you'd offer me some. It really looks scrumptious, does it not? I've outdone myself."

"Scrumptious is the word." Misa agreed, laughing.

After waiting for Ryusei to scoop himself a rather mountainous portion of the cake and hungrily shoving it in his mouth, Misa finally chomped down on her own spoonful. "Mmmm." She hummed, closing her eyes and savoring the taste on her tongue.

It was the softest cake she had ever, ever had in her entire life. No exaggeration. The cake seemed to melt on her tongue, as if it had all along been nothing more than her imagination. Actually, nothing she imagined probably could never taste as good as this cake did. Scrumptious didn't even cover the dessert's flavor.

Maybe it's delectable. Misa thought, reluctant to finish even the first bite but swallowing anyway, knowing there was more left. Instantly, she dug for some more and repeated the process. Maybe it's heavenly. 

She shook her head. Even that word does this cake no justice, she said, going in for another bite. Ah, I got it. It's divine. Yup. That's i--

And then she stopped. Well, not her body, but definitely, her mind.

For at least five seconds, Misa lived through an out-of-body experience. She saw herself reaching and scooping. Scooping and eating. Scooping and eating. Scooping and eating. 

Everything felt a little funny around her all of a sudden, and looked a bit fuzzy, as if she had just woken up and her eyes had yet to adjust. 

What--? She thought, unable to finish the thought clearly as her body rushed forward like a broken machine. Misa was like a robot, malfunctioning and unable to control herself. Living in her body and outside of it at the same time.

And she felt this wild, trench deep hunger in her stomach that caused her to gobble up the cake even after she'd started telling herself, I shouldn't eat this. I can't eat this. Why can't I stop eating this?!

Fear exploded in Misa's mind, tightened her chest until it felt like she couldn't breathe. What is happening to me?! She cried internally. Stop! Make it stop! She tried to command her body, but there was no helping this situation. She thought of Ryusei sitting across from her, hoping he could do something for her, free her from this odd phenomenon, but in the end, he never moved, and she could hardly see him anyway.

She was forced to surrender. Somehow, that palm-sized cake ended up taking a lifetime to eat, in Misa's mind. 

Finally, once she was finished, she felt her fingers slacken. The weight of the spoon was gone immediately because it had vanished. The plate, too, was gone. But Misa's fear remained.

She realized, terrified, that she couldn't move.

Just then, Ryusei got up from his seat across from her, and then she saw the smile on his face. It was wicked, pure evil, and was the unnerving image of unfiltered hatred. There was no mistaking the disdain he had for her in that moment. Nothing in his face suggested he wished well for her.

His cake, Misa realized, had not been a blessing but a curse. He poisoned me!

'You!' She wanted to scream, but the word stopped in her throat, no sound left her mouth. Panicked, Misa grabbed her neck, her mouth wide open and her eyes bulging like a dead fish.

My voice! She cried within, tears welling up automatically in her eyes.

She heard a deep rumble of laughter coming from Ryusei who stood beside her seat, looming over her. It was as if shadow blanked his face in this sunny garden. His normally bright, light blue eyes looked dulled and uncommonly unkind. 

"Pathetic human waste." He spat at her and then turned away, leaving her to claw at her neck, as if hoping to pull the blockage out and free her throat up to yell at him to come back. 

Come back, you monster!

However, Ryusei exited the garden quickly and made his way to the far-left edge of the castle wall. Misa could see him from where she sat. It was a surprisingly visible area, now that she thought about it, and should have been a quick means of finding where she'd been hiding this whole time.

The realization that the guards, attendants, and even Ida had been deliberately led away from the start made her feel brainless. She stopped herself from crying hot, frustrated tears right then because she wanted to see Ryusei leave her sight. She wanted this moment burned into her memory, so she knew never to trust him again.

But then, something even worse happened. Something that made her feel lower than a sewer rat. 

Just as Ryusei made to turn the corner of the large, stone castle wall, his body glossed and waved like water over an inky fresh picture. And he transformed.

His elegant posture drooped towards the ground and his long black hair shriveled up into tangled, unkempt waves. He shrank several inches in height and his lean but healthy body narrowed like that of an unfed animal. Misa couldn't see Ryusei from the front, but she was certain that she recognized that figure.

Just like she saw it now, she had, after all, seen it from afar the first time.

All along, it hadn't been Ryusei who had found her in the castle garden and duped her into lowering her guard. She had never been speaking to a vampire at all but to a Fae. The exiled Fae princess, Pera, Tana's sister whom Misa had once mistaken for a human, was standing about one hundred yards before her.

Misa gasped, but felt suffocated as the sound never left her throat. She never thought she'd feel such shame like this, so ashamed of her own stupidity that she felt sick to her stomach. I want to throw up, Misa said to herself. I'm so pissed!

Even in her head, she could hear the tears in her voice. Still, she forced herself not to drop any of them. She stared Pera down as the Fae woman turned to smile at her like the sun shone just for her. 

Pera looked so damned proud of herself, it made Misa angry enough to want to rip the creature's head clean off. The Fae no longer looked as malnourished as when Misa had first seen her. Now, she just looked abominable, with no excuse for her horrid appearance. Pera could have been the wicked witch in a story book: claws for fingernails, twisted hair, warty nose, and all.

Leave. She thought hard at Pera, like if she did so hard enough, her thoughts might transform into spoken word. And ever come back, or else. Misa thought, but she didn't have an 'or else.' She never did.

Not until the vampire queen, Queen Yori herself, stepped out of shadow. It was a brief exposure, but it was long enough for Misa to capture a glimpse of her as she led the wicked Pera away. Her hand was gentle on the Fae's shoulder as she led her in secret from the castle grounds.

Like no other time before, Misa felt her blood boil. She allowed the tears she'd been angrily holding in fall from her eyes, streaking her cheeks. Or else, she said to herself,

I'll end you myself.